Inkjet and laser printers have become commonplace equipment in most workplace and home computing environments. Today, many printers are multi-functional sophisticated image forming devices capable of printing on a large array of recording media such as standard letterhead and paper envelopes as well as a host of specialized media. At the same time, printers have become more reliable and require less overall service, maintenance and repair than earlier models. Yet, the requirement for routine service and maintenance of certain essential printer components remains.
In an electrophotographic (EP) printer, unfused toner particles are electrostatically attracted to the media to form an image. In order for the image to be fixed permanently the media must be fused. A fuser combines high temperature and pressure to the toner until it is melted and forced to adhere to the media. As such, the fuser is a critical component in the overall image forming process of most EP image forming devices.
It is well known that a printer's fuser is subject to disrepair and/or failure due to lack of service. Some printer manufacturers report having to honor a relative large amount of warranty claims directly related to the fuser assembly. Most such claims can be directly traced to a lack of care on behalf of the customer who fails to take preventative measures to increase the fuser's life. Furthermore, it is known that many fuser failures can be attributed to the use of special media which can reduce the fuser's service life. In the case of special media, it may be necessary for the customer to service the fuser more often than when printing on normal media stock. Yet, in many cases the user forgets to service the fuser at recommended intervals or may not readily appreciate how the media he/she uses may be reducing fuser life.
As such, a means of extending the fuser's life and thereby also reducing warranty claims based on the disrepair or failure of a printer's fuser would be advantageous.